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By Dr. Mercola
The practice of eating insects, known as entomology, may sound extreme,
but it’s actually quite common throughout the world and has been that way for millennia.
There are more than 1,900 documented edible insect species and some are even
farmed the way cattle or chickens are in the US.
With growing concerns over the unsustainable practices that constitute
modern farming, and the very real prospects that food shortages and
environmental destruction could be an inevitable part of the future if more
environmentally friendly farming alternatives aren’tsoon embraced, eating insects
may prove to be a very wise, and necessary, decision.
In fact, a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United
Nations (FAO) highlights the many prospects insects offer for the future of food
and feed security.
Eating Insects Is Already Common in Many Parts of the World
Although still considered largely taboo in the Western world, many cultures
prize insects as a culinary delicacy.
The FAO report notes:
From ants to beetle larvae eaten by tribes in Africa and Australia as part of
their subsistence diets to the popular, crispy-fried locusts and beetles enjoyed
in Thailand, it is estimated that insect-eating is practiced regularly by at least
billion people worldwide.
The most commonly eaten insect groups include:
Beetles Caterpillars Bees Wasps Ants
Grasshoppers Locusts Crickets Cicadas
Leaf and plant hoppers Scale insects True bugs
Termites Dragonflies Flies
There are several quite compelling reasons that make a strong case for
considering insects as part of a sustainable diet that could end world hunger.
For starters, insects are extremely plentiful and are found in nearly all environments.
There are an estimated 6-10 million species of insects, which are thought to
represent over 90 percent of the differing animal life forms on Earth, according
to FAO. Environmentally, raising insects for food would emit considerably fewer
greenhouse gasses than confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) raising
livestock.
Further:
Insect rearing does not require clearing land to expand production Insects
are very efficient at converting feed into protein (crickets, for instance, need 12
times less feed than cattle and half the feed as pigs and chickens to produce the
same amount of protein)
Insect rearing can be low-tech and inexpensive, making it a plausible livelihood
in even the poorest sections of the world Insects have a low risk of transferring
diseases to humans, unlike CAFO beef, pork and poultry
Further, perhaps one of the best reasons to consider eating insects is because
they’re quite healthy, making them a nutritious alternative to common protein
sources like chicken, beef, pork and fish. Insects are:
Rich in protein and fiber
Good sources of healthy fats (some species even have similar levels of omega-3
fats as fish) High in nutrients such as calcium, iron, B vitamins, selenium and zinc
Think of Insects as ‘Shrimp of the Land’
Dutch entomologist Marcel Dicke has stated that the reason many people are
reluctant to eat insects is simply a matter of mindset. His solution? To think of
insects as shrimp of the land.
In the TED video above, Dicke explains that insects are not only eco-friendly
and nutritious, but they compete with meat in flavor, too. If you can get past the
initial aversion, eating insects may not be entirely different from eating shrimp
or other more unique food sources, such as crabs, oysters and mussels. As written
in the FAO report:
Common prejudice against eating insects is not justified from a nutritional
point of view. Insects are not inferior to other protein sources such as fish, chicken
and beef. Feelings of disgust in the West towards entomophagy contributes to the
common misconception that entomophagy in the developing world is prompted
by starvation and is merely a survival mechanism. This is far from the truth.
Although it will require considerable convincing to reverse this mentality, it is
not an impossible feat.
Arthropods like lobsters and shrimps, once considered poor-man’s food in
the West, are now expensive delicacies there. It is hoped that arguments such
as the high nutritional value of insects and their low environmental impact, low
-risk nature (from a disease standpoint) and palatability may also contribute to
a shift in perception.
Interestingly, at the Nordic Food Lab, a non-profit organization, they’re focusing
on the deliciousness factor of wild foods including edible insects. If people begin
to accept insects as a delicious dietary addition, they will naturally begin to view
them as edible. And this, they believe, is a key factor to getting insects into
mainstream Western diets.
FAO notes:
By exploring the vast range of flavors, the Nordic Food Lab aims to turn
‘inedible’ into edible ingredients. Seaweed is one such food source: just a few
years ago it was considered in the West as either exotic or niche, but now, in
certain places, it is celebrated as a new, versatile ingredient since it was shown to
be delicious. The head of the culinary research and development group says that
deliciousness is the first and most important factor in developing new gastronomic
building blocks.
Mayonnaise from bee larvae works not because of its novelty but rather
because of its earthier and more satisfying taste its unique deliciousness.
You’re Probably Already Eating Insects
Chances are more likely than not that you’ve already sampled your first
(and then some) insect, albeit probably unintentionally.
Insects are a part of nature, and the inevitably end up on a leaf of lettuce or
in your box of cereal. This happens not only in the field but also later, as foods
sit in storage facilities prior to processing. It’s for this reason that the US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) allows certain amounts of bugs in your food.
For instance:
Canned tomato juice: two whole maggots per 100 grams
Raisins: FDA won’t take action unless 10 or more whole or equivalent
Drosophila flies and 35 of its eggs are found per 8 ounces of raisins
Macaroni: Anything less than 225 insect fragments per 225 grams in six
sub-samples is allowed
It’s certainly unsavory to think about insect parts in your food, but the truth is
it probably isn’t going to hurt you. In fact, depending on the species, it may actually
add some nutrition
The Future of the World’s Food Supply Depends on Sustainability
Feeding the world in the decades to come is going to depend on broadening
our horizons not only of what we think of as food but also of what we accept as
farming. Insects may very well play a role in this food future. As the FAO report’s
foreword reads:
It is widely accepted that by 2050 the world will host 9 billion people. To
accommodate this number, current food production will need to almost double.
Land is scarce and expanding the area devoted to farming is rarely a viable or
sustainable option. Oceans are over fished and climate change and related water
shortages could have profound implications for food production. To meet the
food and nutrition challenges of today there are nearly 1 billion chronically
hungry people worldwide and tomorrow, what we eat and how we produce it
needs to be re-evaluated. Inefficiencies need to be rectified and food waste reduced.
We need to find new ways of growing food.
Edible insects have always been a part of human diets, but in some societies
there is a degree of distaste for their consumption. Although the majority of edible
insects are gathered from forest habitats, innovation in mass-rearing systems has
begun in many countries. Insects offer a significant opportunity to merge
traditional knowledge and modern science in both developed and developing
countries.
The success of using insects as a food source will depend directly on the
sustainability with which this new food source is raised. Raising insects on a
mass scale may beget many of the same problems already saddling the food
system, such as the threat of genetic engineering, unforeseen pollution,
disruptions to local ecosystems and risks to native insect, animal and plant
species.
Insects must be raised in a sustainable way if they are to become a
successful part of the worldwide diet, and this is true of any food source. If
agricultural practices such as permaculture, which work with nature instead of
against it, are more widely embraced, the food sources you currently enjoy can
be sustained and flourish.
For instance, if cattle are rotated across pastures instead of raised in CAFOs,
the animals' grazing will cut the blades of grass, spurring new growth, while
their trampling helps work manure into the soil, fertilizing it naturally. This
healthy soil then helps keep carbon dioxide underground and out of the
atmosphere.
See, it’s not the raising of cattle or poultry or fish that’s the problem; it’s the
way in which they’re being raised that is unsustainable and currently trashing
the planet and threatening the food supply.
Environmental devastation can even be healed and functional ecosystems
rebuilt using the permaculture concept. So while considering insects as a
sustainable food source is intriguing, it should not replace the ultimate goal,
which is sustainable farming for every species.
Thank You Dr. Mercola
God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.
Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com
